Category Archives: First Impressions

While I personally believe I stop one step short of a crazy cat lady, I do love cats. A lot. Especially in slice of life anime. So, when I discovered there was an anime about a writer adopting a cat, and their lives together, I was pretty stoked. Called “My Roommate is a Cat” in English, and in Japan “Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue” (which translates to My Housemate Is on My Lap, But Sometimes, on My Head), this is a story of two lonely souls, a stray cat named Haru, and a human named Subaru Mikazuki, who begin to heal when they find each other.

The story opens with the death of Subaru Mikazuki’s parents who have passed away in a bus accident, while on a trip. Subaru just wants to be left alone to read his books. With his parent’s death he believes this is possible. Fast forward several years, and he feels no closer to the peace and quiet he wants, even though he has just about cut himself off from the outside world. He is alone, with the exception of his editor, and his neighbor, both of whom he considers a nuisance. He has also become an established writer, but, when the story opens, he is at a loss to what his new book should be about. On a visit to his parent’s grave, he finds a hungry cat that gives him an idea for a story and takes her home with him.

One of the unique aspects of the story is not only do we see it from the perspective of Subaru, but we also see it from the cat’s view—who by the second episode is named Haru. We discover Haru has lived a hard life. She’s the only one from her litter to survive, and most of her life has been filled with hunger. She’s slow to trust, and initially only plans to stay with Subaru for a short time to repay him for feeding her.

They slowly begin to win each other over. Subaru is at first perplexed by behaviors that are normal to cat owners but strange to him. Haru is equally confused by Subaru. How much the one cares for the other begins to shine through despite their lack of understanding about the each other. An uneasy truce forms.

This dynamic crescendos in a fantastic third episode, where Subaru is forced to confront his feelings of loss toward his parents. The execution of that episode is flawless, and it’s one I recommend going into as blind as possible.

The series deals with some pretty heavy stuff, but it swings between that and some very amusing, light-hearted moments. One of my favorites in the first three episodes is when Subaru goes out to buy some cat food for Haru having no clue what he’s doing. The flipping between tones feels like it suits the series very well, and keeps things from getting too heavy.

The hardest part of getting into the series is the character of Subaru. He’s selfish and hostile to every human who interacts with him, even though most characters try to help out of concern for him (which begs the question of why they bother?). It’s painful to watch and makes getting through the first half of the first episode a little difficult. The idea of the show is both of them come out of their shells and learn to trust others. For that, Subaru has to start from square one.

Having not seen beyond the third episode, I’m concerned where the series will go from here. The third episode is so well done; it’s hard to see how the series will top itself, though I have some ideas. I wouldn’t be surprised if the climax of the series involves Haru escaping from the house, and Subaru realizing how much she means to him as he tries to find her.

Overall, I recommend this series, especially if you like healing stories or just like cats. It’s a solid addition to the anime world, and while it’s unlikely to stick out in my mind a few years from now, it’s perfect for what I want from an anime right now.

KyoAni does one thing very well. Cute girls doing cute shit. So it’s pretty easy to figure out whether to watch Chunnibyou blah blah blah. Is this your sort of thing? If it is, Chunnibyou is your show. If it isn’t, you probably didn’t enjoy the first episode that much.

Brains Base is great. They can take this bland concept and make it entertaining. Is it going to be one of Brain Base greats? I really doubt it. Entertaining for a season? Possibly. Great first episode? Yes.

With the start of a new season usually presenting the worst things first, and A-1 Pictures being a mixed bag, I found Shinsekai Yori a nice surprise. The episode didn’t blow me away exactly, but it didn’t horrify me either. Shinsekai Yori opens with enough potential to become something.

(Most of this post was written two weeks ago when I’d watched episode one. Then it took two weeks to get this up because one of my closest friends decided to dump me. Over one thing. Yes, I asked him. It because I told him he was being a dick. Short story is, even though this was the meanest thing I ever did to him and the result of him being nasty to me, he just believed that while friends don’t insult friends even if they don’t realize it’s an insult, and they don’t forgive friends for making mistakes. Cue emotional breakdown/personal crisis/ and two weeks of me being too depressed to do shit as I’ve been really hard to clean up my act and be a better person, but I’ve done too much work to not post it.)

Well, you know how the story goes. Boy meets girl. Boy becomes interested in girl. Boy tastes and becomes addicted to girl’s saliva…okay, more like the typical boy meets girl story with a fetish shoved in because this is a Japanese anime. That fetish is, well, saliva.

However, this is a case where the fetish fanservice, but doesn’t consume the show but rather it’s a side note to the story. An awkward side note, but side note none the less.

Summery (from Black and Blue Socks): In a school where girls are either brainwashed to believe they’re guns or an androids built to be fighting machines, we learn that guns have sexual desires too.

If there’s one thing Xebec can always be counted on to bring me season in and season out, it’s either the boring or the ‘What the hell Xebec?” Here’s an anime (which an adapted from a manga) with an interesting concept. The girls all represent guns. Unfortunately, the coolness for me ends there. The show went on to be pretty much about the character FNC thinking about sex, and everyone talking about sex– with all these double entendres involving guns. There’s some other things but for the most part. That. Is. It.

I’m sure there are people out there who absolutely love this, and think this is delightfully cute and funny, but man, to me, this was just dumb. I can’t see a hardcore gun person being anything but mortified unless it’s a gun fan that also loves horny high school girls.

If I wanted to watch a cute girls being cute girls, there’s better shows even airing this season in my opinion. Not watching. And yes, I’m pissy because I think this could have been cool. I am big a fan of Gunslinger Girl, and I liked the segment where the girls were educating the viewer about one of the guns. This could have been something interesting and original, looking at explaining why these girls are guns, how they ended up this way, what it means for their day to day, etc. Instead, it’s just otaku pandering shit.

TMI Xebec, TMI

Seriously, I wonder what they’ll do with this whole show. There’s only so many different ways one can say things as, “I’d take off my safety for him,” (if you know what they mean viewers! *wink nudge wink*).

Show Description from Animetake: Original anime featuring the four members of sphere as voice actresses.

I would start this by saying that the beginning of the anime season is usually when the worst stuff airs and we can go ahead and get it out of the way, but as this was probably a leaked episode, this probably doesn’t apply here. But this was still. Man. I don’t even know how to describe it. Somewhere between ‘What did I just watch?’ and so bad it was good.

So my first step into the winter season ends badly. I was downloading anime, not being aware of what I was downloading, and the fact I download a Feel anime blindsided me.

I could keep it short and sweet. Gay guy finds his sexuality challenged when he’s put in the position of taking care of his sister’s kids. They will take care of him and place him in all sorts of hilarious and supposedly titillating situations until he’s straight. The hot college chick he met will step in as the mom, and he will learn the joy of having a family, until someone calls child services and explain to him that being a dad doesn’t mean getting turned on by your daughters. (Some of this is true. Some isn’t. Unfortunately, it’s the parts you wish weren’t true.)

It’s a wish fullfillment anime for the guys who enjoy that sort of thing.

I'm sorry, but if you're spoonfeeding/being spoonfed by your roommate, you're either deathly ill or there be something more going on.